What are you listening to now?

[SonicMan46]

For the morning - sunny, blue skies, and no snow on the ground in Piedmont North Carolina - Dave

Bach, CPE - Chamber Works by the performers below on the cover art - all period instruments.

   

[springrite]

Virgil Thompson: The Filling Station

[Karl Henning]

Pump it up!

[Mandryka]

Mario Raskin plays Forqueray. This is totally Trash in a good way, the way that Gilbert and George are Trash and Jeff Koons is Trash and Tracy Emin's installations are Trash. The use of "bad taste" to shock - that's what Mario Raskin does with Forqueray. There are times when listening I'm reminded of gypsy violins, of crooners, of anthemic rock music, of heavy metal, of The Rat Pack, of Queen, of Abba.

It's quite astonishing the colours, the weird noises, the musical sequins and cubic zirconia costume jewellery, that Mario Raskin gets out of his harpsichord. Anyone who thinks that the harpsichord is limited timbre-wise is proved wrong by this display of kitsch and schmaltz. And the basic musicality of the performer just can't be questioned, it's so much in evidence by his swing. If this guy plays Scarlatti, watch out.

This is a wonderful CD. Every home should have one.

[Ken B]

Virgil Thompson: The Filling Station

Pump it up!

+1 each

[Brian]

This thread's on page 2015 in the year 2015. 

First Listen Fwensday:

[listener]

THALBERG - opera fantasias for piano duet
Euryanthe, La Donna del lago, Mosé, I Capuleti ed i Montecchi, Beatrice di Tenda
Monika Egri and Attila Pertis, pianists
- one of those discs it's fun to put on without looking at the label so you can be surprised at the familiarity of some of the times and mystified because you can't name them
Organ Fireworks from New Zealand:  WAGNER arr. Lemare Die Meisrtersinger Overture, LEMARE: Concertstück no.1 op. 80, Tuba Tunes by COCKER and LANG, ELGAR Organ Sonata  SPICER`: Kiwi Fireworks Variations on ' God Defend New Zealand' + HOLLINS and SUMSION
Christopher Herrick, organ of Wellington Town Hall
And RACHMANINOFF works for cello and piano (Sonata and short pieces)
Alexander Ivashkin, cello    Rustem Hayroudinoff, piano

[North Star]

Ives
Hampson
SFSO
Tilson Thomas
[asin]B00005UED6[/asin]

[TheGSMoeller]

First listen. Honeck and Pittsburgh are in the zone, again. Especially the brass, great balance with the right amount of power, just listen to the horns at the ending of the opening movement! Left me breathless! 
This could possibly be the best sounding "Romantic" available.

[asin]B00R4VU7J2[/asin]

[Brian]

One way to make the work day go faster:



EDIT: Two consecutive Honeck/Pittsburgh posts!!

Greg, I really do think Pittsburgh has the best horn section on earth right now.

[aligreto]

First listen....





....and a most enjoyable listen.

[Moonfish]

TD

Elgar:
Nursery Suite
Severn Suite
Suite from "Crown of India"
Coronation March Op 65

Royal Liverpool PO/Groves

The "Crown of India" Suite is enchanting in its oscillation between grace and pompous antics! A surprising delight!






JS Bach: Harpsichord Concertos   BWV 1044, 1053, 1054 & 1055           Leonhardt/Leonhardt Consort/Leonhardt

from
[asin] B00181GGTY[/asin]

[Ken B]

Weiss/Cardin
Disc 1

[Moonfish]

Weiss/Cardin
Disc 1

It finally arrived, eh?   0:)
It seemingly took forever for the Cardin box to cross the Atlantic...   
How do you like it?

[Ken B]

It finally arrived, eh?   0:)
It seemingly took forever for the Cardin box to cross the Atlantic...   
How do you like it?

Very well so far, part way through one disk.
Yes, very slow.

[amw]

Why does the F major sonata K. 296 never show up on individual recitals. Why. It's so good.



I am not going to buy a recording of all 175938019823 Scarlatti sonatas just for this one so don't ask.

[HIPster]

On a first listen to this excellent Handel disc ~
[asin]B000B8WEFK[/asin]
Note that amazon has it listed under Hsndel  . . .

Makes for some attractive pricing, however!   

[Brian]

Why does the F major sonata K. 296 never show up on individual recitals. Why. It's so good.

Scott Ross on YouTube, and there are individual/double recital discs by Michelangelo Carbonara and Orion Weiss.

[Moonfish]

Sibelius: Pelléas och Mélisande            Jakobsson/Lahti SO/Vänskä

Excellent performance of a Sibelius gem.

[Mirror Image]

I enjoy the DG ones as well. Comparatively they are similar, i.e. a huge scale version of the 4th and 5th. If I recall correctly the sound is perhaps a bit more defined and richer in these renditions from the mid 70s. At first I was a bit apprehensive (not sure what I was expecting), but I quickly allowed myself to listen to the many details that came forward.  I was a bit surprised at how well defined the strings were. You know the sections when the orchestra is almost quiet and the strings pulse softly in an ebb and flow? The details were exquisite. The 3rd movement of the 5th was beautiful in this recordings.  It sounded a bit different than I was used to, but I thought it was very well done. It completely absorbed all my attention and only the soundscape of the 5th existed.  Now I am looking forward to listening to Karajan's early EMI version (remastered by Warner). 

Excellent, Peter. Thanks for the feedback!

Now, I'm going to listen to three works written in remembrance of the victims of WWI.

Now playing:



Listening to the Requiem. Exquisite music and performance.

Next:



Going to listen to A Pastoral Symphony.

And then:



Going to listen to The Spirit of England.